Hot on the heels of the magnificent GIANTS OF ROME on my TV screen, Richard Harrison strikes again with the amazing GLADIATORS SEVEN! This highly entertaining revenge picture is an amusing and exciting homage to both THE SEVEN SAMURAI and THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, with a little Cisco Kid and a dash of Robin Hood thrown in for good measure.

The setting is a mythical ancient Sparta, which is dominated by the might of the Roman Empire. Darius, played by Harrison, is sentenced to die in the arena for assisting in the escape of five gladiators from captivity. Darius, the son of the ruler of Sparta, is a well-trained fighter, and when he's put into combat against a large number of barbarians(Germans, I assume, as they have long blonde hair and wear furry animal skins), he fights like a man possessed by demons! Having survived, the Emperor sentences him to an honourable execution, but the soldiers are moved by his bravery and prowess and request his freedom; the Emperor agrees, on the condition that Darius goes back to Sparta...which is just fine by him.

When he arrives in Sparta, he is told that his father has been murdered by the treacherous villain Hiarba, who concealed the deed in the guise of a suicide; Darius swears vengeance! He goes about the task of rounding up his freed gladiator buddies to join him in the fun!

This was a dashing and jaunty experience from the first frame. The usual motley crew of misfits here was colourful and well chosen, and their chemistry together was great. There is plenty of fighting, dastardly deeds, camaraderie, and no shortage of manly buffets across the shoulders....all in the cause of fun and raucous vengeance! Gotta love some good, clean revenge, right? Well, I certainly do, and if you're of a like mind, I think you'll enjoy this one too!

Cameron Mitchell has always been a slow rumble in the background of my movie and television experience. Throughout the 70's and 80's, I saw him in dozens of supporting parts on a broad variety of television shows, and along with John Saxon, always in the relatively thankless position of bringing fire to a character, but eternally being shoved to the rear. Like Saxon, Cameron's career never went much higher than support roles.

In the last few years, along with Lee Van Cleef, Cameron Mitchell has climbed forward on my list of personal favourite actors; his presence, calm intensity, and focus really grab my attention. His incredible performance in the Sergio Corbucci Spaghetti Western Minnesota Clay (read my review HERE) really put him on my map, and the fantastic (if a bit odd) Mario Bava Viking epic Erik the Conqueror really hit it home; Mitchell is a massively undervalued artist. It took the Italians to make that clear, which they have done quite a bit in my little movie universe.

If you have a history book open right now, I'd close it if you don't know the story of Caesar's conquest of Gaul; this movie follows the history close enough that there will be spoilers between those pages! If you don't know the history, then you're in for an extra treat, as the true account holds all the drama usually reserved for the best movies. In CAESAR THE CONQUEROR, General Julius Caesar has amassed troops, and he's made war against the various tribes in Gaul, an area that roughly covers modern France. At that time every area was dominated by a different tribe, ruled by it's own chieftain. These tribes commonly made war on each other, and it was this combative relationship between the tribes that Caesar took advantage of. He divided them, made deals with various tribal leaders against their rivals, and in this way he began to whittle away at the autonomy of Gaul itself.

Enter Vercingetorix of the Averni.

Gaius Julius Caesar

Vercingetorix of the Averni.

Vercingetorix rose to power in his own tribe, and slowly made alliances with other tribes; he began to convince the Gauls that defeat of Rome was possible, and one by one, the tribes joined together in order to face the onslaught of General Caesar's army. The rest is history, and the setting for this film. The depictions of both Caesar and Vercingetorix are strong; Rik Battaglia(who I know from the spaghetti westerns Mannaja and Duck, You Sucker, is a charismatic Vercingetorix here, and provides a great foil for Cameron. There is action and intrigue a-plenty, fun settings, and even a few very lovely women! It'sll good fun for the Peplum fan.

CAESAR THE CONQUEROR is a really solid film experience. I've seen it available for free in various locations on the internet, and it is also available on some very common Peplum dvd collections.

I had to make a note of the ending moment in the film. If you know the history (or have seen any TV shows about Caesar, in particular the first season of HBO's legendary ROME series), you know that Caesar whupped Vercingetorix's ass. This great Peplum ends with that event, and the moment in which Vercingetorix offers his sword in defeat. It's very well done. The last words in the film are from Caesar himself; it's unlikely that he even thought them in actuality, but I would like to think so:

"I have fought, and won, but I haven't conquered man's spirit, which is indomitable"

I'm a huge fan of the Sword and Sandal picture. When I was a kid, beside the wonderful Italian Peplums, my Saturday and Sunday afternoon fare consisted mainly of some of the fantastic Hollywood historical classics; such legendary movies as THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, BEN HUR, EL CID, and CLEOPATRA. The biblical epic was major part of my cinematic stock and trade.

QUO VADIS may be the ultimate biblical historical story. Written in 1896 by Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz, it won him one of the first Nobel prizes in Literature, for his "outstanding merits as an epic writer". Incidentally, corresponding to my current obsession with Cossack films(see those reviews HERE), Sienkiewicz wrote the three Polish Cossack classics, WITH FIRE AND SWORD (Ogniem i mieczem), THE DELUGE (Potop), and FIRE IN THE STEPPE (Pan Wołodyjowski).

QUO VADIS was the godfather of all of the biblical epics. First filmed in 1913, according to the nice documentary on the DVD, it inspired the grandiosity of a great many historical epics, including the massive scale of the D. W. Griffith classic INTOLERANCE. In any case, it's a brilliant story, for which Sienkiewicz travelled to all of the relevant locations during his research, as well as studying with prominent scholars on the various related subjects.

To anyone with even a passing knowledge of history and/or the New Testament, the story has familiar key points, as well as an interesting original plotline. The core of QUO VADIS revolves around the Military tribune and patrician Marcus Vinicius, masterfully played by Robert Taylor, and his development of a romantic fixation on the beautiful Ligia, played by Deborah Kerr. Vinicius has been away on a three-year campaign with his legions; on his return to Rome, he receives word that he must make camp outside the city on the strict orders of Emperor Nero, played by the wonderful Peter Ustinov. Angered, Vinicius drives his chariot wildly into the core of the city to demand the reason for the delay.

Once in the palace of the Emperor, Vinicius is calmed by his uncle Petronius, played by the charming, Leo Genn. The Emperor assures Venicius that his patience will be rewarded when another legion arrives, as a massive triumph is planned in his honour. This placates our hardened warrior, and he sets about the long-awaited task of relaxation. Uncle Petronius has arranged a temporary lodging in the villa of the retired general Aulus Plautius, until his own house is put in order. Once there, Vinicius spies the lovely Calina, called Ligia, in the care of Plautius and his wife. Calina is legally considered a hostage of Rome, being the daughter of the king of the conquered Ligians; her use of Ligia as her name is in recognition of her people, to which her only connection is the giant tribesman Ursus*, her servant and sworn protector. Unknown to Vinicus, Ligia, her adopted mother, and Ursus are converts to the new religion of Christianity.

Vinicius is consumed with a desire to possess Ligia. He's a hard, determined man, entirely of the Roman way of being; what is wanted can be had, whether bought, stolen, litigated or killed for...he sets about acquiring Ligia by any means. Though Ligia is immediately attracted to Vinicius, his brutish, paternal attitude and lack of the Christian faith drive her into internal conflict. When set upon by Vinicius to join in a lustful pagan-blessed bond, she denies her powerful desires and declines.

Marcus Vinicius

Calina/Ligia

Gaius Petronius

Chess game

Ursus

Nero - 100% whack-a-doodle

Of course, that doesn't stop Vinicius. Through his uncle's close connection with the solipsistic sociopath Nero, he works the laws concerning hostages to his benefit; Nero gives Ligia to him as a gift. Of course, Ligia is mortified by this ethical breach, and very strongly expresses her distaste for Vinicius' methods. Her fellow Christians are upset as well, and during the night-time delivery of Ligia to Vinicius, the pacifistic Ursus leaps from the dark, accidentally killing the soldier accompanying the party...he and Ligia escape into the dark, into the waiting company of her friends.

The Apostle Peter testifies

Vinicius is angered and pursues his perceived property; he follows her trail to a gathering of Christians, where he hears the stirring and captivating words of the Apostle Peter, recounting his personal associations with Jesus Christ, including the tale of his death and resurrection. Vinicius is moved by these powerful words, and the change within his heart has begun.

I thought this was an incredible movie. Whether you are a Christian or not, it's powerful stuff; the concepts of love and forgiveness, of loyalty and friendship, of possession, obsession and madness are dealt with in a deeply compelling way. The history was given a fun treatment, and though many fans of the novel have panned the adaptation for gross oversimplification, there seems to be a grudging acceptance of this as good, big-screen stuff. In fact, I'm inspired to read the novel, which I found for free on the internet...I look forward to experiencing the story as originally written.

The title QUO VADIS, by the way, refers to the tale of Peter, who, while escaping from persecution in Rome, meets the resurrected Jesus on the road, heading into the city. Peter asks his saviour, "Quo Vadis, domine?" (Latin: "Where are you going, Lord?"), to which Jesus replies, "I am returning to be crucified again". This inspires Peter to return to the city himself, an act which will lead to his own martyrdom. In a show of extreme piety, Peter requests of the Romans that he be crucified upside down, so his death might not be compared with the execution of his Lord. These scenes are played out in the film, and I thought they were handled extremely well. The portrayal of Christianity here is a more gentle, old school, pre-1960's approach; the genuine love and peace of the true Christian message conflicting sharply with the more battle-hardened current take on the subject.

The Apostle Paul

The Last Supper

Jesus addresses Peter

Resurrected

Peter's Crucifiction

Nero croons while Rome burns...

To me, the real star of the show (no offence to Robert Taylor intended), was the fabulously over-the-top Peter Ustinov. His Nero is a wild-eyed, narcissistic, sadist, but there's a gleeful, almost childlike naivete here that almost (but not quite)makes you forgive him his monstrous excesses. He burns Rome, he sets the Christians on fire and feeds them to the Lions, but it's almost as if he doesn't understand why it's a problem to others. It really is very near to mental incapacity in a way...Ustinov's Nero would almost certainly be in a rubber room today, drugged-up, with streams of spittle dripping from his slackened lips. There's a movie in there somewhere!

So, whether you care for biblical stories or not, I hope you'll give QUO VADIS a look; it's on par with the legendary Hollywood blockbusters.

Ursus, by the way, was used as a character in a great many of the Italian Peplum movies of the 1960's, in such titles as Ursus, Ursus e la regazza tartara (Ursus and the Tatar girl), Ursus nella terra di fuoco (Ursus in the land of fire), Ursus il gladiatore rebelle (Ursus the Rebel Gladiator), and Ursus il terrore dei kirghisi (Ursus, the terror of the Kirghiz). All incredible films!

To make any movie a success, it's important to cast the right people in the main roles, especially in a heroic epic like GIANTS OF ROME. The type that one should look for in an action picture is exactly someone like Richard Harrison; rugged, masculine, and convincing holding a sword. Harrison is perfect for this stuff. If you look up his filmography, you'll notice that there are a stunning number of his movies with "Ninja" in the title. Why? Because Richard Harrison is a complete bad-ass!

He's not alone as far as bad-assness in this one, either; he's well matched in this stunning Peplum version of THE GUNS OF NAVARONE...teamed up with a stalwart cast of musclemen who play his crack team of Druid-fighting killers!

The year, presumably, is 52 BC; Caesar is gathering troops to Gaul to have a final battle with the dreaded Vercingetorix, king of the Gaulish tribes. According to history, the conflict took place in Alesia, a hill fortress of the Mandubii tribe, which is believed to be located in Bourgogne, in eastern France. The history here, in true Peplum fashion, is distorted a bit, but all in good fun. In this alternate history, Caesar has not surrounded Alesia with miles of fortifications so that he can face the superior numbers of the Gauls on a slightly more even keel(Caesar's forces were outnumbered four to one)...in this epic, Caesar is actually en route to Alesia, but his spies have informed him that on the path to battle, the fanatical Druids have constructed a super-weapon capable of destroying his entire army before one sword is unsheathed!

Nasty business, wot?

Caesar calls his best soldier, Claudius Marcellus, played by Harrison, to gather a small team of his best men to sneak into Gaul territory and destroy that deadly machine. He selects three others for the job. First there is Castor, a stalwart badass similar to Marcellus himself, played by veteran Peplum/Spaghetti Western/Poliziotteschi actor Ettore Manni. I know Manni as a sheriff in the so-so Italian Charles Bronson western CHINO. Second, we meet Verus, a bearded badass played by German actor Goffredo Unger. I didn't recognise him, but he's another guy who has a ton of the "magic 3" Italian genre movies under his belt; as Verus he's a master knife thrower, which may have something behind it in real life, as apparently Unger came from a circus family...an intriguing possibility. The third and final selection is the brutish Germanicus, played by the hugely muscled Ralph Hudson. Hudson's only other listed film credit is a Tarzan-like Italian jungle picture called TARZAK CONTRO GLI UOMINI LEOPARDO(Tarzak Versus the Leopard Men), which I really must see!!!

With a crew like this, them nasty Gauls have their work cut out for them.

Badass.

Caesare il Padrino

Pompey and Cicero plot

Back in Rome, Pompey and Cicero make a token appearance in a scene where they scheme against Caesar, I suppose to give the history buffs a little setup for the civil war to come after the ending of this film's story. They don't really have much effect on the plot, unless there's a longer print somewhere(which is entirely possible). Caesar, played by Alessandro Sperli(who apparently played Joe the Boss in the Charles Bronson movie THE VALACHI PAPERS, which I have seen, but didn't recognise him from) was very good, adding a nice dose of mafia boss into the role. The crazed Druids are an amusing choice for the super-villains here; if you made our four heroes gunfighters, these Druids would certainly be Apaches! It's also humourous to see barbarians in Gaul dressed in Mongol-type getups, but hey...this is Peplum.

That's why we watch, right?

I'll tell you, if you like action, this one supplies the goods! Knives flying, spear fighting, swords flashing...all the goodies that make a Peplum great are here in spades. The one thing that I will say as a sliver of a spoiler...don't get too attached to any particular character...people die in GIANTS OF ROME, and it might be one of your favourites. Consider yourself warned. It takes a number of surprising turns, and the characters often make choices that I didn't expect.